For the first 2022 spring presentation, the New Mexico State University Climate Change Education Seminar Series or NMSUCCESS will focus on New Mexico’s renewable energy infrastructure. Recently, the state has seen an increase in wind turbine operations, which is a renewable energy option to reduce greenhouse gases and the effects of climate change.
Fernando Martinez, executive director of the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority, will give a talk titled “New Mexico Renewable Energy, Transmission and Energy Storage: An Overview and Next Steps,” on Zoom at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 16. To register for the NMSUCCESS virtual event, visit https://bit.ly/NM_renewable_energy_trans.
Martinez will provide an overview of the trajectory of the nation’s renewable energy market and related infrastructure, and describe New Mexico’s efforts to support this trend through the establishment of the Renewable Energy Transmission Authority. He will describe RETA public/private partnerships on several projects, the growth of wind farms connected to this infrastructure, and how New Mexico fits into the big picture. RETA was created by the state legislature to support the development of electric transmission and storage projects needed to help New Mexico realize its potential to be a national leader in renewable energy production.
Martinez is a graduate of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. He has more than 28 years of diverse technical and managerial experience in the natural resources field that includes work in energy, mined land safeguarding and reclamation and water programs.
Launched in 2018, NMSUCCESS is an interdisciplinary series that brings a range of experts to NMSU and Las Cruces to promote informed discussion of the causes and consequences of climate change.